从《芒果街上的小屋》看西斯内罗斯的民族身份建构策略_英语论文

Sandra Cisneros’ Construction Strategy of National Identity in The House on Mango Street

摘要

如今，非裔、华裔、犹太裔等美国作家已成功被主流读者所接受，墨西哥裔作家也试图跟上这些少数族裔作家的步伐。 他们试图用特殊的文本策略来建构自己的民族认同。 西斯内罗斯在运动中发挥了主导作用。 通过分析她的小说《芒果街上的房子》，本文努力寻找并分析两个重要的民族建构策略来阐述国家认同：儿童视角以及象征手法。西斯内罗斯强调，我们应该利用民族文化的差异来保护他们的墨西哥文化。我们应该注意墨西哥文化和白人文化。 多样化的民族文化和殖民主义文化在世界文化多样性中是极其重要的。 这些少数族裔作家处于民族文化和殖民主义文化的困境。桑德罗西斯内罗斯指出了传统文化的根源。《芒果街上的小屋》是西斯内罗斯的代表作之一，由44个简洁的短文连缀而成，看似并无关联，实际上暗藏着墨西哥移民在后殖民文化背景中的身份困境。

关键词：《芒果街上的小屋》；儿童视角；自传；意象；民族身份

Abstract

American writers of African, Chinese, Jewish and Indian descent have been successfully accepted by the mainstream readers, and writers of Mexican descent attempt to keep abreast with these writers of ethnic minority. They try to construct their national identity with special textual strategies. Sandra Cisneros is playing a leading role in the movement. By analyzing her novel The House on Mango Street, this thesis endeavors to find two important strategies used by the author to construct her national identity: the perspective of a child and images. Sandra Cisneros emphasizes that we should use the difference of national culture to protect their Mexican culture. We should pay attention to the Mexican culture and the White culture. It is important to diverse the national culture and colonialist culture. Those writers are in a dilemma on national culture and colonialist culture. Sandra Cisneros points out the root in traditional culture.  

Key words: The House on Mango Street; children’s point of view; autobiography; images; national identity

Contents

1. Introduction 4

1.1 A Brief Introduction of Sandra Cisneros and The House on Mango Street 4

1.2 Background and Significance of the Study 4

2. Literature Review 6

2.1 Study Abroad 6

2.2 Study at Home 6

3. National Identity Construction via Language 8

3.1 The Metaphors in the Context in Children’s Points of View 8

3.2 Childish Language and Expression in Speech 9

3.2.1 Diction 9

3.2.2 Sentence Length 10

3.3.3 Sentence Structure 11

3.2.4 Free Speech 11

4. National Identity Construction via Image 13

4.1 The Image of Female Characters 13

4.2 The Image of “House” 15

4.2.1 In Search of Class Identity 15

4.2.2 In Search of Ethnic Identity 16

4.2.3 In Search of Female Identity 17

4.3 Other Repeated Images 17

5. Conclusion 19

Bibliography 20